Welcome to your first year in York Psychology. This page is designed to guide you through your first year course selection. The following information is for students coming into the program out of high school, or with no prior university education. Transfer students will find important information at the end of the page concerning credits and requirements.
A full course load at York is 30 credits per year: 5 full year (6 credit) courses or a combination of full year and one term (3 credit) courses. However, it is not uncommon to take fewer courses, especially student whom are coming to York directly out of high school. The first year Psychology requirement is the same for BA and BSc students in all Psychology programs. The rest of the first year differs, so follow the link for your program.
Permission to enrol in selected Psychology courses are handled by email only. Please contact us at psyc@yorku.ca for course enrolment and information.
Required: PSYC 1010 (6 credits) - Introduction to Psychology
This course provides a basic introduction to each of the major sub-disciplines within Psychology exposing you both to the historical roots and to some of most important current trends in each area. Everyone must complete this course with a grade of C or better to continue as a Psychology major. Should you fail to get a C in this course, you have the option of repeating it twice and you will not be admitted to any additional Psychology courses (with the possible exception of PSYC 2021) until you have met the C requirement.
We strongly advise you to devote a lot of time and effort in your first year to making sure you succeed in Psychology 1010, and to seek help early in the year if you are having difficulty.
Optional: PSYC 2020 (6 credits)/PSYC 2021 (3 credits)/PSYC 2022 (3 credits) - Introduction to Statistics
These courses provide an introduction to the analysis of psychological data (note that PSYC 2021/PSYC 2022 together are equivalent to PSYC 2020).
By taking these courses in first year:
- Students limit the amount of time since their last mathematics/statistics course (some of the material from high school math is relevant, such as solving equations, order of operations, graphing, probability, etc.)
- Students provide themselves with more time to complete extra methods courses (e.g., students may want to consider the Concentration in Applied Methods and Analysis, or the Certificate in Psychological Methods and Data Analysis, which will require more statistics/methods courses)
- Learning about statistics in first year students are better prepared to read research articles and understand the results of these studies when taking second year Psychology courses.
Undergraduate Research Participant Pool
The URPP gives students the opportunity to earn up to 4% toward their PSYC 1010 grade. Specifically, students can earn 4% by participating in 6 hours of research, with students in full year sections of 1010 completing 3 hours in the fall and 3 in the winter. Visit the URPP website for more information.